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Life under interim head coach Bruce Cassidy has been kind to the Boston Bruins.
It’s just two games and the uphill battle remains for a club in search of the spark that will propel them out of the doldrums of a two-year playoff drought, of course, but it’s been impossible to dislike what you’ve seen from the club thus far. In what was an obvious do-or-die three-game homestand for the Bruins before their long-awaited bye week, the B’s have rattled off key victories over the Sharks (a 6-3 final on Thursday night) and Canucks (a 4-3 comeback win on Saturday afternoon) and done so while committing some serious changes to their attack, and now Cassidy’s bunch are set for their biggest test yet on Sunday night, as Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens come to town.
Not only is it against the club’s top rival. But it’s a game that presents the club with a chance to rifle off three consecutive wins on Garden ice, which has not been done since Nov. 27 to Dec. 5.
“It was something we talked about last game,… B’s winger Frank Vatrano said when asked about the club’s improving home record, which is now over .500 at 14-13-0. “We needed to start being good in our home rink, starting that night. So I think we’ve been doing a good job of that. It’s only been two games, so we need to get another big win [Sunday], and head into the break on a good note.…
Of course, with this being the Habs, it’s going to be anything but easy.
The Canadiens have not lost in Boston since Jan. 12, 2012 -- also known as the night they traded Michael Cammalleri out of town in the middle of the game -- and have rattled off nine consecutive wins in Boston since then, including their thrashing of the club at the 2016 Winter Classic.
B’s netminder Tuukka Rask hasn’t necessarily helped the B’s cause for a home win over the Canadiens, either, as he comes into play with zero wins and an .890 save percentage in 12 career home games against the ‘CH’. Rask was sensational in his only prior head-to-head with the Habs this year, however, with stops on 30-of-31 shots in an overtime win in Montreal earlier this season.
One of the more intriguing emergences for the Bruins under Cassidy has been a third line that Claude Julien would never, ever in a million years put out there, with the embattled Jimmy Hayes on the right, Vatrano on the left, and center-turned-winger-turned-center Ryan Spooner in the middle.
A member of the line played a factor in three of the B’s four goals, and were not coddled and/or benched the way that Julien would have likely treated them if together for a game.
“I thought defensively they were solid for the most part,… Cassidy, who coached both Spooner and Vatrano extensively during his tenure with the Providence Bruins, admitted after the game. “We’ll look at it a little closer but there was no apprehension calling their name out and throwing them out on the ice and that will only ingratiate themselves with their teammates, with the coaching staff, when they can contribute offensively, solid defensively, play a 200-foot game.…
“I think we just did our jobs and created a lot of energy,… Vatrano said of the line’s work against the Canucks on Saturday. “I think Jimmy [Hayes] did a good job of going to the net, and Spoons made his plays when he needed to make his plays, and I think it was an all-around effort for the guys who were on the ice, and I think the biggest thing was we just competed all night.…
The Bruins could make a lineup change for this game, which would likely come with Peter Cehlarik, who made his NHL debut yesterday, out in favor of Matt Beleskey (whose skating game is still a work in progress after his knee injury), but that will be a ‘game-time decision’ according to Cassidy.
A win tonight would give the Bruins a split for their season series against the Canadiens, and it would be their first non-losing season series final against the Habs since 2012.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal magazine, and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.